Drummer Hal Blaine has died at 90 years old. He worked with The Beach Boys, The Carpenters, the late John Denver, The 5th Dimension, The Monkees & The Partridge Family to name a few. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Blaine

Yup. Blaine had his fingerprints on just about any recording that came out in the 60's & 70's. An astounding body of work. The stat that knocked me out was being drummer of record on 6 consecutive Grammy "Record of the Year". IIRC, after missing one year he followed up with two more consecutive wins.

Diana Ross 1976 song "Theme From Mahogany" (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" was the last # 1 on the Billboard Charts for the late Hal Blaine back on January 24, 1976. The late John Denver album "Autograph" (early 1980) was also the last for Hal playing the drums.

All of the big, single headed drum kits were a reaction to Hal. Other drummers, and even the industry followed what Hal did.
Everyone appears to get "quantized" now, making guys like Hal much less valuable; there will never be another.

Check out "The Wrecking Crew" movie on DVD. It was hours of footage and interviews, both in the film and as extras. Hal's interviewed in there, as well as many others in the Crew. It was fascinating, and I learned a lot about their work. I'm hoping to get the Muscle Shoals documentary next.

Check out "The Wrecking Crew" movie on DVD. It was hours of footage and interviews, both in the film and as extras. Hal's interviewed in there, as well as many others in the Crew. It was fascinating, and I learned a lot about their work. I'm hoping to get the Muscle Shoals documentary next.

The Muscle Shoals doc was good, but it's kind of a different story in that it chronicles the studio more than it's inhabitants in the same way "Sound City" did. Of the two, "Sound City" is the better film. Maybe I just didn't get warm and fuzzy over Rick Hall, the studio owner. Give him credit where it's due, but I felt a little Col. Tom Parker vibe from him in terms of contribution. When you work with artists the caliber of The Rhythm Section it makes it considerably easier not to produce crap. When the room sounds right for what you're going for and you have an orbit of players nearby to fulfill the vision, of course you'll have Mick Jagger willing to stay at the nearby Holiday Inn in 1969 to capture that. What resulted was more of a delightful crashing of planets which we are all the better for, but it didn't come through business acumen.